


amount per serving: calories 140, calories from fat 0

by dogf1ght



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Gen, they're all children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 01:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7200344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogf1ght/pseuds/dogf1ght
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler Joseph, all things considered, is a brat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: in this fic I made tyler's mother super nice and amazing but note that 1) that's not how she actually is 2) i hate her with every fiber of my being. 
> 
> also please leave kudos/comment!

Tyler Joseph, in Josh’s eyes, is a complete brat. 

 

He  _ never _ takes what’s given to him with a “thank you,” he  _ never  _ says please when he wants something, he  _ never _ finishes his snacks without some sort of fit, and he  _ never _ sleeps during nap time. Plus, all the teachers always give  _ him _ all the attention when  _ Josh  _ is the one who deserves it.

 

And Josh, needless to say, is extremely annoyed.

 

He  _ always _ says “thank you” (one time he forgot and cried for an hour), he  _ always _ says “please” when he wants something, he  _ always  _ finishes his snacks (and in a timely manner, no less), and he  _ always _ sleeps during naptime. And, the teachers give him almost  _ no _ attention. 

 

He makes this very apparent to his mother, who picks him up everyday at half past four. Since it’s spring, they’ve been walking the two blocks home instead of the usual five-ish minute drive.

 

“Mommy,” He tells her, trying to catch up with the walking woman, pausing from sucking on his fingers to whine. “Tyler Joseph is awful.”

 

Josh’s mom, always the optimist and social worker, replies pleasantly. “And why do you think that?”

 

Josh tells her his (what will soon become) daily speech about his peer, his awful, wretched peer. His mother listens intently as he explains his deep-seeded woes. (Having a therapist as a mother really makes the babbling boy’s life easier as he...babbles.)

 

“He’s so annoying! And he acts like he’s five! even though he’s six! And he does this weird stuff with his hands and it makes me so...it’s make me….” He stops walking to try and find the word. “Frusterious?” Josh looks to his mother, hoping she can think of the word he’s trying to use.

 

“Frustrated? Furious?” she offers, trying to keep him moving. She has cookies in the oven, and she really doesn’t want them to burn, or catch on fire. The only person who’s home is Josh’s older brother, who wouldn’t know if he was being robbed with those “big headphones he always has on” (at least, that’s what she says every time the doorbell rings and he doesn’t answer).

 

Josh picks up his pace, and grabs his mother’s hand as he passes her. “Yes.” 

 

His mother sighs, not knowing what to do with her child. She would scold him for making such harsh statements against a boy he obviously knows nothing about, sure. She should do that, she’s his mother. But she also doesn’t want to invalidate his feelings or belittle Josh’s (possibly) valid anger. 

 

She decides not to sit down and lecture him just yet, too emotionally drained from her job to make another analysis of someone based on past behaviors. 

  
She just gives him one of the cookies she was making, watches him do his homework, and hopes it all goes well at school. 


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Josh’s mom walks Josh to school instead of having their next door neighbor (who has a child a year ahead of Josh at his elementary school). She wants to meet Tyler’s parents to see if she can talk to them about the boy her son has such a problem with.

 

“There he is, Mama! There he is!” Josh whisper-yells to his mother, tugging at her scrubs and rattling her name tag. She looks over to where her son is pointing to see two children, one girl with long blonde hair with pretty pink cheeks and little flower shoes, and a boy with deep brown hair so short it might as well be a buzzcut playing together. 

 

They seem to be playing nicely, exchanging hand signals and giggling periodically. She sees nothing wrong with the boy.

 

She leans down to meet Josh’s tiny eyes with her own. “Sweetie, he doesn’t look like that bad of a per-”

 

Josh takes both his hands, dragging his mother’s face so close to his own her nose touches his smaller one. “No,” he whispers quietly, and frankly, very dramatically. “He’s evil.”

 

The woman tries to suppress her laughter. “Okay, sweetie,” is all she can manage before she hands her son his packed lunch, shooing him into the yard full of laughing and screaming children so she can make her way to work, since she doesn’t see any parents that look like they’d be Tyler’s in the yard. 

 

Josh bites his lip in anxiety, staring at the pair of children he hates so much. 

 

Who is that other girl, anyway? And why is  _ she _ talking to  _ him _ ? He’s stupid! And dumb! And an idiot! And not cool! Or funny! Or nice!

 

But he doesn’t do anything, just goes off to play with Debby, an adorable brown-eyed little girl that Josh knows from Youth Group at church. 

 

It’s almost noon (school starts at 8:50) before Josh has  _ another _ problem with Tyler, and it happens during lunch.

 

See, here’s the thing:

 

Josh is very much a person who keeps to himself, and Debby, but mostly himself.

 

And Tyler, oh...Tyler...he talks to  _ everyone _ . That kid would tell his life story to a homeless man. And he’s loud while he does it, so extremely loud, and it bothers everyone!

 

(Well, actually, Josh has only talked to himself, and Debby isn’t  _ that _ bothered...but he still assumes everyone is annoyed.)

 

Josh normally just sucks it up, just hopes other people will handle the terrible person that is Tyler Joseph just so Josh doesn’t have to.

 

But today, he decides to handle it. He  _ needs  _ to handle it.

 

He’s smart, so smart, and he knows that it’s easier to start a fight on the playground than it is to start one in the cafeteria.

 

So he waits for what feels like forever until they’re released into recess.

 

When they actually get outside, Tyler and his friends are hogging the play structure the  _ whole time _ , and that only adds to Josh’s anger, of course, so it’s much, much easier to go to up to Tyler (who’s telling his friends about these cookies he made with his mom yesterday), yell at him, and then punch him square in the face, his tiny fist making contact with Tyler’s tiny nose.

 

The playground goes silent for one whole in breath, but by Josh’s next out breath, everything is in chaos (or, as his grandmother says, the fit hits the sham). 

 

Everyone is pulling them in different directions, with Debby holding his little arms back while the little blonde girl, who Josh now knows is named Jenna, protects Tyler, who is clutching his nose and has blood splattered all over his NBA jersey. 

 

Josh wonders if it's real as he’s pulled away and yelled at by one of the lunch ladies for his  _ “inappropriate action of anger.” _

 

He’s looking at Tyler the whole time: Tyler beings dragged off the play structure, Tyler being given an ice pack, Tyler crying, and the blonde girl crying, too, Josh’s teacher pressing the ice pack to Tyler’s face _... _

 

“We are going to call our mother, young man. Don’t think you’ll get away with this!” one of the oldest lunch ladies points an old wrinkly finger to Josh’s face before she leads him into the school and down the art and music hallway to the office, where he sits until he sees Tyler come in, followed by a woman who he guesses is his mom, who followed Josh’s own mother, who looks simply furious. 

 

She sits between hi, and Tyler’s assumed-mother, with Josh farthest from the door and Tyler closest to it. The other child is still clutching his nose, and a few rogue tears and sniffles cut through the silence in the room.

 

“Mrs. Joseph…” the principal begins. ‘I am so, so sorry for this incident.” She turns to Josh’s mom. “And Mrs. Dun, we will take the actions of your son very seriously, and we  _ will _ punish him.” She moves between looking Tyler’s mom and Josh’s mom in the eyes while she speaks. “There  _ will _ be repercussions for his actions.”

 

Josh’s mom nods, looking between the small boy’s bloody nose, her son, and the principal. 

 

But mostly between the bloody boy and her son.

 

The principal drones on and on about what happened to the two parents, and tries to draw any information she can out of the first graders. However, not a peep comes out of either of them. 

 

Frustrated, she moves onto to learning the two mothers’ perspectives of the situation. 

 

Tyler’s mom goes first, the other mother too shocked at her son’s actions to talk. 

 

“Tyler never really talked about Josh, a few times I’d hear the name being thrown around between him and Jenna when they played,” she glances at the pouting Josh, who continues to stare at the wall behind the principal’s desk. “But it was never anything negative, just questions like,” she gestures with her hands. “‘What do you think he likes to do?’ or, ‘does he like dolls or action figures more…’ or, or…’do you think he’d want to be friends with me.’ I can’t imagine why he would do that to my son…” she trails off, looking into the principal's’ eyes, who obviously feels uncomfortable with the profess of emotion.

 

She shifts in her seat to look at Mrs. Dun, who just looks broken from hearing the other mom’s words.

 

The mother swallows, and looks at the floor as she tells her story. “Yesterday I was walking to school with Josh, and he was talking about how  _ annoyed _ he was with Tyler…” she looks over at her son, her beautiful, beautiful son, and she wonders how he could say such horrible, horrible things about this poor woman’s child. “And this morning she called him...evil, but I didn’t think it was serious at all, let alone would escalate to this…” she turns to Tyler’s mother, whose eyes are filled with tears. “I’m so sorry, I never thought my son could ever do something like this.”

 

The other woman nods, accepting the apology.

 

The principal tries to move the meeting along, having a meeting at two she doesn’t want to be late for. “Now that you two have talked,” she gestures to the two women, “it’s time for the children to tell their sides of the story, Josh,” she looks at the boy who is still avoiding everyone’s gaze. “Let’s ask the obvious questions here, why did you punch Tyler in the face?”

 

Josh huffs, staring at the floor. “You guys just don’t get it!” And proceeds to go back down the list of reasons of why he thinks Tyler Joseph is an awful human being, and when he finishes, the principal is more confused than enraged, Josh’s mother is hanging her head in shame, and Tyler’s mom, and Tyler, are lightly crying in their seats. 

 

Tyler’s mom dabs under her eyes with a tissue, and turns to Josh and Josh’s mother. 

 

She sniffles before she begins. “Josh,” she says. “Tyler, Tyler has autism, okay? And he has a hard time communicating what he’s feeling in a way the rest of us,” she uses her hands to gesture to the room, as if to include herself, the principal, and the Dun’s. “Completely understand, that’s why he rarely says ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ he just make noises my husband, Tyler’s father, and I have come to notice as his version of the words. And he’s often nonverbal at home, he talks so much at school because he has so many  _ friends _ here, and when he naps at our house, he naps closer to noon, not two, so he’s had a hard time with the schedule change since we put him in a public school. The reason he never eats his snacks is that’s he’s gluten and dairy sensitive and so he can only have so much before he gets stomach aches,” she leans in closer to Josh, who still isn’t meeting her eyes. “Teachers give him lots of attention because we feel he  _ needs _ it, since we were so scared that with his allergies and his autism that kids would bully him, but people ended up really liking him, we thought if he was bullied he’d need the positive reinforcement so that he would want to stay in school...” 

 

  
Josh’s mom turns to her son, looking at him as if to tell him “ _you and I have a lot to talk about once we get home,_ ” as Tyler’s mom continues talking her son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please note that I am allistic, so I'm just going off of what I've read online from autistic people. please let me know if I've overstepped a boundary/misrepresented autistic people

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic with proper capitalization in so long so bare with me on this alright it'll get better


End file.
